Improvement in corn-shellers



J. FOWLER.

Patented May 13, 1862.

' C, within the case A, there is placed a slotted IINTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.IABLIICS S. FOVVLER, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

lfviPROl/EMENT IN CORN-SHELLERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,227, dated May 13, 1862-.

To all wiz/om it may concern: l

Be it known. that I, JAMES S. FOWLER, of Peoria, in the county of Icoria and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Shelling Corn; and I do hereby dec-lare that the following is a full, clear, and eXactdescription of the sam c, rcfercilce being had tothe aceompanying drawings, making' a part ot this specification, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of my invention taken on the line a; a', Fig. 3; Fig. 2, a detached side view of a feeder pertaining' thereto; Fig'. Il, a plan or top view of the invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to a new and im` proved machine for shelling corn and separating the corn from the cobs; and it consists in the employment or use of an elastic or yielding concave screen in connection with arotary shelling'-cylinder, discharging-apron, and a shoe provided with a screen or screens, and also 'in connection with spiral or screw conveyers, as hereinafter described.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a case or box, which is placed on a frame, B, mounted on wheels for the ready conveyance ot' the machine from place to place, and C is a cylinder, which is placed transversely on the upper part of the case A and is provided with teeth a. The journals of the cylinder C are fitted in boxes D, which are adjustable vertically in the sides of the case A; and directly underneath the cylinder or grated concave, E, which is formed of rods b,'the ends of which are fitted in curved bars c, connected together by joints d, which are formed by the rods l), which are in line with the lapped ends of the bars c, passing through said ends. These rods b, which form the pintles of the joints, pass through the sides of the case A and rest upon spiral springs e, which admit of the concave having' a yielding movement. This yielding movement is nermost end, Z), ot the concave connect-ed to spiral springs j". I F F are inclined boards or chut-es, whlch l are placed in the case A, underneath the concave E, and serve to guide the shelled corn upon a screen, G, which is underneath the concave and in a shoe, II. (See Fig. 1.) The front part of the shoe II is attached to the sides of the case A by pivots g, and its back part is suspended by rods I I from cams 71 h on the ends of the shaft of the lower roller, J, ofthe discharging-apron l, a rod, I, being' at each side of the discharge end or back part of the shoe.

The discharging-apron K is formed of slats h, having their ends fitted on chains vz'. i, which pass around the roller J and around a roller, L, in the upper part of an inclined box, M, which is attached to the case A, the bottom j of box M serving as a guide to conduct the grain which maypa'ss through the apron K to the screen G.

N is a rot-ary fan which is fitted in a case, O, attached to the front end of case A. The case O forms the greater portion of a hollow cylinder, as shown in Fig. 1, and to its lower end there is attached by hinges 71; a flap, I), which extends the whole length of the fancase and has pins projecting laterally from` its front edgeone at each side-said pins passing through vertical oblong` slots m in the sides of the case and admitting, by means of wedges or keys inserted in said slots, the flap P being more or less inclined in order to regulate t-he direction of the blast from the fan N.

Power is applied to the dischargingapron K by a belt passing around a pulley, Q, on one end of'the shaft of the upper roller, L, of the discharging-apron, and power is applied to the cylinder C and fan N by belts passing around pulleys R S at one end of their shafts.

T is a conveying-screw which is placed in a trough, U, at the lower end of an inclined board or chute, V, in case A. The trough U is placed transversely in the case A, and the screw T may be rotated by a belt from one end of the fan-shaft, said belt passing over pulleys lV IV. (See Fig'. 2.) The trough Uv is slightly inclined and its lower or depressed end communicates with an inclined trough, X, which is at one side of the case A, and has an elevating-screw, Y, placed in it, which is driven by a beltpassing around a pulley, Z, at the upper end of the shaft of screw Y.

The upper end of the trough X is forked or divaricated, as shown at d* @X on Fig. 2.

A Fig. 3, is an endless feeding-apron, which is formed of slots 0, attached transversely to a canvas apron, p, said apron passing around rollers q q at the ends of a case, B', which is formed of two parts connected by joints o. Then the machine is not in use, the case B may be folded so that it will not monopolize much space, and when the machine is in use the case B is attached in any proper way to the front end of the case A, so as to feed the ears of corn between the cylinder C and concave E.

The operation is as follows: The machine may be driven by any convenient power and the ears of corn are fed between the cylinder C and concave E, the former being adjusted to thedesired height in consequence of its journals being fitted in adjustable boxes D. The corn is shelled from the cobs by the ace tion of the toothed cylinder C, the ears of corn being kept in contact with the cylinder by means of the concave E, which, in consequence of being allowedto yield or give, owing `to its jointed form and the application of the springs, as described, will accommodate itself to the different sizes of the ears. The

shelled corn passes down through the concave E on the screen G, which has an up and down shake-motion given it by means of the rods I I and cams h h. The coarse foreign substances pass off the depressed end of the screen G, while the corn passes through it and is subjected to a blast from the fan N, the direction of which is regulated by adjust.- ingnflap P, and which blast deprives it of all light foreign substances. The corn falls on an inclined board, N', which conducts it into the trough U, and the conveying-screw 'I discharges the corn into the lower end of the trough X, and is carried up in said trough by the screw Y and discharged from its ends ax ctx. 'Ihe cobs are carried up and discharged from the machine by the apron K. Any loose grains of corn which may be mixed with cobs fall through the apron K and are conveyed down to screw G by the inclined bottom j. A grating, C', is attached to the inner end of the concave to admit of the cobs passing on the lower part of the apron K.-

This invention effects a thorough separation of the corn from the cobsrand at the same time shells the corn thoroughly from the cobs, and is capable of being adjusted to shelling ears of various average sizes of different kind of corn, and also of adapting itself to ears of different sizes in the same kind of corn.

I do not claim separately the employment or use of conveying-screws, for they have been previously used; but,

Having thus describedA my invention, what I do claim as new, andI desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

LESLIE RoBIsoN, W. B. HALL. 

